Man Gets Life For Hiring Assassins

Wilfredo Perez, convicted of hiring New York triggermen in 1996 to gun down a street-gang leader who infringed on his Hartford drug operations, was sentenced Monday to life in prison.

Federal prosecutors said Perez, leader of the ``Perez Organization'' that distributed cocaine in Hartford, paid $6,000 to have Theodore ``Teddy'' Casiano shot to death. Casiano, a former friend of Perez, was a leading member of the Savage Nomad gang that threatened Perez's drug trafficking, Department of Justice officials said.

Perez, 38, was given a life sentence plus five years in federal court in New Haven. He was convicted last year in the murder-for-hire, determined by a jury to be related to organized crime. Several others also have been convicted in the case, including Fausto Gonzalez and Mario Lopez, men from the Bronx who were hired for the job.

On May 26, 1996, Casiano -- believed to have kidnapped a Perez underling and seized cash and drugs from him -- agreed to drop by Perez Auto Body on Newfield Avenue. When he left, Gonzalez and Lopez followed his car on a neon green racing motorcycle, both men wearing full-face helmets.

Lopez drove the bike alongside Casiano's car at a red light, and Gonzalez emptied a gun into Casiano's face, chest and back.

After an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Hartford Police Department, the two were convicted of the murder, though they haven't yet been sentenced. In October, a jury decided Gonzalez wouldn't face the death penalty.

Another man, Santiago Feliciano, was convicted on related charges for taking the motorcycle back to New York.

Perez's brother, Jose Antonio Perez, was charged and convicted of the same crimes as Perez.